1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a press-connecting terminal which is connected to a covered electric wire by pressing the covered electric wire into a gap between a pair of press-connecting blades.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 5 shows a press-connecting terminal 1 similar to what is described in Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. Sho. 60-134284. The press-connecting terminal 1 incorporates a contact portion 2 which is formed on one side of the terminal and to be connected to a mating terminal, and an electric wire joint 3 which is formed on the other side thereof. The electric wire joint 3 is provided with an electric-wire holding portion 4 on the rear side of the electric wire joint 3, and a press-connecting portion 5 is provided between the electric-wire holding portion 4 and the contact portion 2.
The press-connecting portion 5 is formed with three sets of pairs of press-connecting blades 7, 7, the pair of press-connecting blades 7, 7 being substantially perpendicularly cut and bent toward a space between sidewalls 6, 6, and the pair of press-connecting blades 7, 7 facing each other with a predetermined gap held therebetween. A covered electric wire (see FIG. 7) 8 is pressed into a gap between the press-connecting blades 7, 7, and a covering portion 9 of the covered electric wire 8 is ruptured by the press-connecting blades 7, 7, so that a conductor portion (see FIG. 7) 10 of the covered electric wire 8 and the press-connecting blades 7, 7 are brought into contact with each other and electrically connected.
The width L2 between the sidewalls 6, 6 is set to be smaller than the width L1 of the contact portion 2 of the press-connecting terminal 1.
The reason for this is that the width L1 of the contact portion 2 of the press-connecting terminal 1 to be connected to the end portion of the covered electric wire 8 needs to be not less than twice as large as the external diameter L3 of the covered electric wire 8 which is usually employed in view of the necessity of securing sufficient reliability of electrical connection with the mating terminal.
On the other hand, the press-connecting portion 5 for use in press-connecting the end portion of the covered electric wire 8 needs to ensure that the conductor portion 10 of the covered electric wire 8 is brought into contact with the press-connecting terminal 1 while clamped with the pair of press-connecting blades 7, 7. Therefore, the inside width between the sidewalls 6, 6 where the press-connecting blades 7, 7 are formed by cutting and bending needs to be equal to or smaller than the external diameter of the covered electric wire 8.
Consequently, the width L2 between the sidewalls 6, 6 (width of the press-connecting portion 5) is set to be smaller than the width L1 of the contact portion 2.
As shown in FIG. 6, moreover, the press-connecting terminal 1 is accommodated in a terminal accommodating groove 12 formed in a housing 11 of, for example, a connector. In this case, the inside width L4 of such a terminal accommodating groove 12 is set in conformity with the width L1 of the contact portion 2 where the width of the press-connecting terminal 1 is maximized.
As shown in FIG. 7, further, the end portion of the covered electric wire 8 is placed between the sidewalls 6, 6 of the press-connecting portion 5 while the press-connecting terminal 1 is housed in the terminal accommodating groove 12, and press-fitted in between the press-connecting blades 7, 7 by means of a press-connecting jig 13, whereupon the conductor portion 10 is brought into contact with the press-connecting blades 7, 7 as the covering portion 9 of the covered electric wire 8 is ruptured by the press-connecting blades 7, 7. Thus, the press-connecting terminal 1 is connected to the end portion of the covered electric wire 8.
However, since the width L1 of the press-connecting portion 5 is narrower than the width L2 of the contact portion 2 as shown in FIG. 6, the side of the press-connecting portion 5 of the press-connecting terminal 1 becomes shaky (in a direction of an arrow a) around the side of the contact portion 2 in the terminal accommodating groove 12. Consequently, the position of the press-connecting portion 5 in the terminal accommodating groove 12 tends to become undeterminable and thus unstable.
The press-connecting jig 13 interferes with the press-connecting terminal 1 because the press-connecting portion 5 is shifted from the press-connecting jig 13 so positioned as to be in agreement with the center of the terminal accommodating groove 12 as shown in FIG. 7 and this results in nonconformity, for example, deforming and damaging the press-connecting terminal 1.